


Olways

by Kimsherd



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Death, M/M, One Shot, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, soulmate tattoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 09:13:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6560599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimsherd/pseuds/Kimsherd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaashi loves to talk about his soulmate tattoo and how his soulmate will be, but he soon realizes that knowing only the last words he will say to you isn't so wonderful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Olways

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is my first fanfiction written in English, which isn't my first language, so feel free to comment if you see something wrong in here.  
> Anyway, I really liked writing this and how it turned out, I hope you'll like it too!

  _I’ll owlways love you._

Akaashi had spent a lot of time thinking it was stupid. Not that he didn’t like cheesy puns, they just weren’t his style. But at least he appreciated that the last words his soulmate would say to him were that she (or he) loved him. He found it comforting and sweet.

He didn’t show it to anyone, because he thought it would bring bad luck. He knew it was stupid, Akaashi had always been rational, but he had heard all those stories about people not finding true love if they showed the tattoo and he didn’t want to take any chances.

Maybe he thought about it more than necessary, and his friends usually made fun of him for it.

“How can you be so worked up for the soulmate thing when you act so distant and cold with us?”

So he stopped talking about it. They weren’t wrong, he really didn’t seem to care about people, but he did. He just didn’t show it like others did.

When he entered high school, he didn’t bring it up and nobody asked. It was a private matter, the tattoos were always hidden for a reason and Akaashi had learned what they really meant.

He had been excited for all his life about his soulmate, but the tattoo showed only the last words. What if he didn’t get to know them? What if he ended up with the wrong person?

But maybe, being with someone else would be better than hearing those last words and knowing your soulmate was about to die. He winced every time he thought about it.

Maybe he would be the one dying first. He selfishly hoped so.

 

“Nice receive!”

He shouted to their libero and prepared himself for the toss. He watched Bokuto, who was grinning wide, getting ready for the highest jump he could do and Akaashi tossed the ball perfectly in line with him.

Bokuto always said he was perfect. Not only in volleyball, but with everything.

“Akaashi, your English is perfect, can you teach me?”

“I like what you’ve done with your hair. It’s perfect.”

“You’re a perfect setter, Akaashi! You’re just perfect.”

He did this time too.

“Wow, what a perfect toss! That was awesome!”

And Akaashi found himself smiling, a little smile that lifted only the corners of his lips. He still was getting used to Bokuto’s infinite energy, his big smiles, his loudness and his constant need of attention and affection.

The first he met him, Akaashi thought Bokuto was crazy. He had never met someone so loud and cheerful. They were opposites, but in the end Akaashi was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Bokuto was the team’s light and when he didn’t feel like it, they had to remind him.

Akaashi liked him.

Maybe a bit more than “like”, but he couldn’t trust this feeling.

He wanted something that could last. He wanted to be with someone that would say those words to him one day.

Maybe he was being childish. Searching for a soulmate didn’t mean he couldn’t have other relationship, but Bokuto…

He was so bright and happy. Akaashi didn’t want to ruin him.

“But there’s a chance,” he always told himself.

Bokuto loved owls. He made a lot of stupid puns about them. When Akaashi heard the first owl pun, his heart skipped a beat.

Could it possibly…?

But he couldn’t be sure. Not until Bokuto…

He didn’t want to think about him dying.

 

“Nice training, everyone!”

The coach made them tidy up and soon they were ready to go. Bokuto was skipping around, energetic as always, asking Akaashi to train a bit more with him. Would he ever get tired?

Akaashi sighed and agreed, he couldn’t turn down Bokuto anyway, or he could get depressed for days. It was too easy for Bokuto to get gloomy even thou he was so lively all the time.

“Just for a bit, ok? I have to do homework, Bokuto-san”

Even after two years, Akaashi wasn’t able to call him without any honorifics, but Bokuto didn’t seem to mind. He just nodded, his round eyes bigger than ever, and went back to the basket full of balls.

They trained together, quietly and with concentration, for another hour or so. At the end, Akaashi was sweating heavily and the thought of laying in bed and just sleep replaced the homework.

“You’re perfect, Akaashi!”

“You always say that about me”

“Oh, I do?”

Akaashi laughed. Not the loud and big laugh of Bokuto, a subtle one. Bokuto could hear it only because the gym was exceptionally silent. Bokuto laughed too, making the gym loud as it should be again.

“It’s because…”

Bokuto fell suddenly silent, and Akaashi stared at him with his eyebrows raised. It wasn’t like Bokuto to be so quiet and embarrassed. Akaashi could tell because Bokuto was shuffling his feet, looking everywhere but him.

“Well…”

Akaashi waited some more, honestly curious about what made his captain so flustered.

“I’ll owlways love you”

Bokuto’s smile was tentative, not his usual wide grin. He looked at Akaashi with bright eyes, expectant, but his smile wore down and a deep red crept on his cheeks.

Bokuto just ran out of the gym, not even changing. Maybe he thought Akaashi didn’t feel the same. Maybe he thought the look of horror in his eyes was a sign of rejection.

Akaashi was too slow to react. He felt like he was drowning in some thick liquid. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe. His hand jumped to his throat, clenched and tight. Akaashi felt his eyes prickling.

He couldn’t stop it. He knew it.

Many people had tried. They tried to prevent the death of their loved ones and nobody ever succeeded. It was something set in stone.

Bokuto was so young.

They could have done so much. Their lives could have been so much more.

Akaashi wished he never had that tattoo, he wished and prayed that it was just a misunderstanding, that Bokuto wasn’t his soulmate, that the tattoo didn’t exist.

He checked, but those words were still there.

_I’ll owlways love you._

Akaashi ran. He didn’t even know where to. He couldn’t stop it, he knew it. It was bound to happen.

But at least…

At least he wanted to tell Bokuto.

It didn’t matter at this point, but it mattered to him. Bokuto needed to know.

He ran, calling his name. Bokuto didn’t go far, Akaashi could see his silhouette walking against the sunset. Bokuto turned and watched Akaashi with conflicted eyes: hopeful, hurt, confused.

It happened fast.

A car, maybe the driver was drunk.

Time stopped.

Akaashi ran but he felt like he wasn’t moving. He knew he was screaming, but he couldn’t hear his voice.

He was too late, too late.

Bokuto was at the side of the road, his limbs sprawled on the asphalt and twisted in an unnatural position.

Akaashi didn’t want to see. He wanted to rewind time, to keep Bokuto in that gym forever,  to keep him safe. He wanted to run away from there, to pretend it never happened.

But he couldn’t.

Akaashi kneeled before him. He wanted to touch him, stroke his spiky hair and kiss his forehead, but Akaashi didn’t move, he didn’t have the strength to do it.

Bokuto’s chest was still going up and down, slowly and painfully.

“Bokuto-san…”

He didn’t answer. His eyes were open and his gaze, a bit glassy now, fixed on Akaashi’s.

“I’ll always love you, too”

Bokuto smiled, his lips trembling. Akaashi realized he was crying because Bokuto’s face was soon covered in his own tears, washing away the blood.

Bokuto stretched his hand, trying to lower his gym trousers, now torn apart. Akaashi helped him.

_I’ll always love you, too._

Written on the bone of his hip.

Akaashi felt his life coming apart. He had been so stupid. But now it was too late.

Bokuto didn’t lose his smile. He was dying, he knew it, but he just couldn’t stop smiling as Akaashi picked him up carefully to embrace him.

Akaashi wanted to say he was sorry, that he always wanted to be with him but was scared. He wanted to talk to him one last time, but words didn’t matter anymore, nothing could be done now. He cried and kept Bokuto in his arms, stroking him and kissing him even thou he was covered in blood.

When the ambulance arrived, it was too late.


End file.
